Purchasing products in bulk form has become an acceptable type of purchase by consumers. This is evidenced by the range of bulk products offered for sale in a variety of settings, such as for example, grocery stores, coffee stores, pet food stores and candy stores.
Bulk purchases of a product are made either by weighing the product, which is taken from a storage bin, or by buying a package containing a predetermined amount of bulk product, in food stores or the bulk food section of grocery stores. The purchase is completed with a cashier using a cash register. It will be appreciated that this limits the locations and times when a product can be purchased in bulk, which in turn can present a convenience obstacle for the consumer.
In the case of candy manufacturers, when a product is sold in pre-packaged form labeled with the manufacturer's brand, it is distributed by the manufacturer mainly through point-of-sale outlets. Many candy manufacturers can also supply product in bulk, but are typically limited to selling predetermined quantities of bulk product because of distribution and packaging considerations. For example, candies can be purchased three different ways: in pre-packaged form under the manufacturer label, in bulk form from a vending machine, or in bulk form from an open bin in a grocery store or bulk food store.
In many cases the bulk bins used to store the products offered are susceptible to contamination, shrinkage and spilling, which can be further exacerbated by consumers reaching into the bin with their hands to gather or sample the product before purchase. It is conceivable that the vendor may be put at risk or incur liability. Furthermore, even where recently available bulk gravity bins have been implemented to ensure sanitation, the dispensing mechanisms are not able to dispense products in measured quantities.
Where dry bulk products are acquired in larger quantities there is typically a need to employ staff to measure, weigh, determine a final or sale price and collect money from the customer. The overhead cost associated with supplying the equipment and employing staff is significantly more than if the acquisition process was an unmanned automated process.
In most cases where bulk products are sold, the customer must “guess” the weight and the corresponding cost of the purchase which may or may not be close to the weight the customer actually desires or the amount of money the customers actually wants to spend on the purchase. Even in cases where weigh scales are available in the store, the customer must perform the iterative task of dispensing, weighing, adding or removing product, re-weighing, etc. until the desired amount of product or cost is determined.
In the case where products are sold through automated bulk vending equipment, the vendor is limited to selling product using a fixed price and a smaller, fixed vend quantity. The customer typically inserts a coin (token or paper currency) and a fixed quantity is dispensed. Currently available automated equipment therefore does not allow the customer to specify the amount of product desired, e.g. based on weight, product count or value. In addition, automated vending equipment is limited to dispensing only uniform products that are hard-coated and not subject to “sticking” together because of warm or humid conditions.
In summary, the sale of bulk foods tends to be costly, restrictive and not customer friendly in large part due to limitations of known bulk storage and dispensing technology. Accordingly, there remains a need for improvements in the art.